Owen Farrell refuses to concede defeat to dad Andy ahead of today's Six Nations finale despite the boss of hot favourites Ireland striking first in their family duel.
England’s recalled captain admitted to being caught unawares by young sons Tommy and Freddie turning up at the final Irish training session at the invitation of their grandad.
With England 16-point underdogs against the world’s number one ranked side, it is unlikely to be the last time Farrell senior gets the better of his son.
Owen sighed: “They’re just doing as their granddad’s told them to because they’re staying at his house, with my mum.
“I genuinely didn’t know that they were at the session. I guess it’s his rules this weekend - so far. We’ll see what happens in the game, won’t we?”
Nobody anticipates anything other than an Irish Grand Slam at the Aviva today with England friendless in the market at 7/1. What Farrell Jnr does expect, however, is for his boys to be dressed in white.
“I assume - and I still do assume - they will be wearing their England jerseys,” he said. “But I see they are trying to sway them.”
The Farrells rivalry has always been fierce but rarely, if ever, have they pitted their wits against each other in a game as big as this.
Leave to one side for a moment what Ireland stand to achieve by completing only their fourth ever unbeaten campaign, and their first in Dublin.
For England, smarting from last week’s record home defeat, anything short of a dramatic improvement could well bring an end to some international careers.
“We’re very clear that it can never happen again,” said hooker Jamie George. “Steve has certainly let us know we let ourselves down. He’s been very clear on that front. Direct and to the point.
“It was intimidating because he’s a coach and a person everyone in the room has a huge amount of respect for.”
Borthwick’s mood won't have been improved by former boss Eddie Jones claiming his successor was pressured into picking Marcus Smith against France.
“To me that’s always the political selection,” Jones told his podcast Eddie. “A player has been out of form, hasn’t quite done well at Test level and then he plays one or two club games and he’s a hero.
“The media starts banging on the door – you’ve got to pick him, you’ve got to pick him – and then the board reacts to that, and ask ‘why aren’t you picking him?’
“When you’re a young coach at the start of your career you can get influenced by that. I really felt for Marcus in that game.”
Smith is on the bench today alongside Dan Cole, who will become only the fourth Englishman to reach 100 caps after Jason Leonard, Ben Youngs and Farrell.
“We need as a bare minimum to show how much we care about playing for this team,” said forward coach Richard Cockerill ahead of his final game before quitting for French club rugby. “And it needs to be evident from our action on the field.
“Ultimately you get what you deserve in a game. We certainly did last week because that’s how we performed.”
There are few certainties in sport but so consistently have Ireland hit the heights this past year that it will take something extraordinary for Farrell Jnr to wrestle back the bragging rights.
Ireland: Keenan; Hansen, Henshaw, Aki, Lowe; Sexton (capt), Gibson-Park; Porter, Sheehan, Furlong; Baird, Ryan; O'Mahony, van der Flier, Doris.
Replacements: Herring, Healy, O'Toole, Treadwell, Conan, Murray, R Byrne, O'Brien.
England: Steward; Watson, Slade, Tuilagi, Arundell; Farrell (capt), Van Poortvliet; Genge, George, Sinckler, Itoje, Ribbans, Ludlam, Willis, Dombrandt
Replacements: Walker, M Vunipola, Cole, Isiekwe, B Curry, Mitchell, Smith, Marchant.
